Endeavour (STS-67) launched 1995

STS-67 crew:

Front row (L-R): Stephen Oswald, Tamara Jernigan, William Gregory

Back row (L-R): Ronald Parise, Wendy Lawrence, John Grunsfeld, Samuel Durrance

Mission patch

Space Shuttle Endeavour (STS-67), launched March 2, 1995, was dedicated to conduct astronomical observations in the ultraviolet wavelengths.  Its crew consisted of Commander Stephen Oswald, Pilot William Gregory, John Grunsfeld, Wendy Lawrence, Tamara Jernigan, Samuel Durrance, and Ronald Parise.  

The Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope, the Wisconsin Ultraviolet, the Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UIT), and the Photo-Polarimeter Experiment were the three most important instruments aboard the Endeavour.  

They returned to Earth on March 18.

Columbia (STS-35) launched 1990

STS-35 crew

Front row (L-R): Guy Gardner, Vance Brand, John Lounge

Back row (L-R): Robert Parker, Ronald Parise, Jeffrey Hoffman, Samuel Durrance

Mission patch

Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-35), launched December 2, 1990, was devoted to astronomical observations.  Its crew consisted of Commander Vance Brand, Pilot Guy Gardner, Jeffrey Hoffman, John Lounge, Robert Parker, Samuel Durrance, and Ronald Parise.

They returned to Earth December 11.

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut Samuel Durrance!

Samuel Durrance, born September 17, 1943 in Tallahassee, Florida, is a veteran of two space shuttle flights.  He worked as a principal research scientists at the Johns Hopkins University over here in Baltimore.

His first flight was on Columbia (STS-35) as a payload specialist in December 1990.  The mission was shortened by one day because of impending bad weather at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

His second and final was aboard Endeavour (STS-67) in March 1995 as a payload specialist.  One of the objectives was to measure ultraviolet radiation from space since most UV radiation is absorbed by Earth's atmosphere and cannot be studied at the surface.